34 Feed Technology Price premiums for functional feeds range from 20-30%. At grow-out stages, farmers may use functional feeds together with regular feeds at various ratios, ranging from 10% to as high as 50%, or at worst, irregularly at 1-2 times/ week depending on their financial situation. Many farmers would like to use functional feeds but there is an uncertainty on the final ex-farm prices and final cost of production. Taiwan based Grobest has been marketing its functional feeds for the farming of vannamei and monodon shrimp to farms in China and Southeast Asia, since 2017 and 2018 in Malaysia and Indonesia, respectively. Other players are Growel Feeds in India and Sheng Long Bio-Tech in Vietnam. Several Indonesian feedmillers have functional feeds, including PT CJ Feed and Livestock Indonesia, which introduced its functional feeds in September 2020, PT Suri Tani Pemuka (STP) and PT Cargill. In Vietnam, ADM recently announced a functional feed with an immunostimulant specially tailored for shrimp rearing conditions in Asia (see pages 21-22).
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Some conditions in the new regulation may be seen as restricting flexibility with respect to innovation for new species. - Narashimha Rao
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Recent regulations
Vietnam has a new regulation on maximum allowable levels (MLs) of undesirable substances (including heavy metals) in animal feed and aqua feed ingredients. "This will restrict ingredients such as squid liver paste from being added into shrimp feed,” said Dong Qiufen, Guangdong Nutriera Group, China. In Thailand, to prevent the entry of African swine fever into the country, the Department of Livestock has changed the regulations, making it difficult to import products from swine, such as meat and bone meal and blood meal. In India, two new regulations affect the aquafeed industry. The Andhra Pradesh state government will regulate fish and shrimp production. Another regulation will bring all
aquafeed production under the food safety regulations of India. Dr Arul Victor Suresh, Managing Director, United Research (Singapore) Pte Ltd, said, “Both will have wide ranging ramifications on the aquafeed business in terms of compliance and complexities.” Rao added, “Some conditions in the new regulation may be seen as restricting flexibility with respect to innovation for new species. There is also an increase in tax rates for feed imports to 10%”.
Updates on recent business activities
BioMar Tongwei (Wuxi) Biotech Co. Ltd became China’s first feed mill with the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification for trout and turbot. Marubeni Nisshin Feed Co., Ltd, announced the start of an aquafeed manufacturing and sales business in China. Marc Campet, ADM's Aquaculture Business Development Director said that the company is investing in manufacturing in China and will tailor its probiotic coated shrimp feed for the Chinese market (Feed Navigator.com). Tongwei and Tianbang will be forming a strategic alliance in July 2021, with the latter transferring all aquafeed assets to Tongwei. In Vietnam, BioMar and Viet-Uc signed an agreement in March 2021, for the former to acquire the majority of the latter's feed business. By the end of 2021, global pangasius leader, Vinh Hoan’s new aquafeed factory with a 350,000 tpy production capacity in Dong Thap, will start operations. In November 2020, Sheng Long BioTech International had a ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a new 150,000 tpy factory with three fish feed production lines in Hoa Phu Industrial Park, Vinh Long province. Production is scheduled for September 2021. In Indonesia, industry players reported more imports of shrimp feeds from regional producers. China’s Haid set up its first feed mill in East Jawa. In 2020, STP built a new R&D centre in Banyuwangi for freshwater and marine fish culture to produce fry and fingerlings. It also has a JV with Hendrix Genetics (PT Kona Bay Indonesia) for a broodstock multiplication centre. The long-term aim is to be a total solution aquaculture company in Asia and in line with Indonesia’s vision to grow its domestic shrimp production. PT Cargill Aqua Nutrition began production of its first shrimp feed at the plant in Serang, Banten. In 2021, it began to produce the starter feed at the same plant. By the end of 2021, PT CJ Feeds and Livestock will have a new plant with two lines of extruded fish feeds in Banten and a research farm for shrimp R&D. Future plans include a shrimp hatchery.
In November 2020, Thang Long Group (as Sheng Long Bio-Tech International is known in Vietnam) held the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of an aquafeed factory in Hoa Phu Industrial Park, Vinh Long Province. The group is planning for 1 million tonnes production by 2026 with additions of new feedmills in northern Vietnam and Malaysia.
July/August 2021 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific
